By several measures, health care spending continues to rise at the fastest rate in our history. Annual expenditures for health care in the United States have been rising at an astonishing 2 to 5 times the inflation rate since 2000. These increases translate into excessive and rapidly escalating health insurance costs for businesses, as well as, individuals. Over a 5 year period, employers have experienced double digit increases in health plan premiums and, due to price sensitivity, companies attempt to reduce costs annually by changing their healthcare coverage. This disruption of service flow has a dramatic affect on many insurance companies' margins. As costs continue to surge, employers are now faced with many economic challenges and are either unable to or opt not to absorb the higher medical costs. Employees now must face increases in personal contributions to their health plan while millions of others are left without any health insurance coverage at all simply because many employers cannot afford to provide them with medical benefits. In other instances, employees must make the difficult choice as to which members in the family they can afford to insure. For those employers struggling with escalating premiums, price has now become the key selection criteria over provider network and actual benefits. The employer contribution to the average annual premium for a family of 4 reached $12,100 in 2007 and is projected to increase 60% by 2012.
These extraordinary health care cost increases have severely affected multiple segments of our economy and have had a dramatic impact on the ability of US businesses to compete in world markets. One very recent example was the sale of Chrysler® to Cerberus Capital®. Essentially, Chrysler® was sold for with the assumption of its healthcare liability for retirees which was estimated to total $15.7 billion. What is interesting to note is that Daimler-Benz® bought the company less than a decade ago for $60 billion.
Health care costs have increased since 2000 at a rate that is 4 times faster than wage growth. These increases impact many companies ability to increase their workforce resulting in a decelerated job growth market. These costs also suppress many companies' abilities to increase wages for current workers due to the huge increases in employee total compensation costs which include the health care costs. Furthermore, many businesses find it difficult to provide health coverage for employees, and retirees. Thus, by cutting into a company's operating margin, health care costs are reducing their ability to grow by investing in research, capital spending, product development, and marketing with the end result being an inability to compete effectively in world markets. A perfect example can be found in a recent report published by Starbucks® which confirmed that in the last 12 months, their expenditures on health insurance alone surpassed their total costs for raw materials needed to produce the coffee they sell. As another example, General Motors® spends $1500 in health care costs for every car and truck that is produced. This means that the health care expense is more than the cost for the steel used in their car and truck production.
In addition, the wage earnings of workers has been severely affected by rising insurance costs (and premiums) because, for example, many employers have been forced to pass on these premium increases to their workers. Various experts report that the average employee contribution to company-provided health insurance has increased more than 143% in the last 7 years. Currently, an employee, on average, pays 27% of their health insurance premium. Based on this figure, employees are paying $3500 annually for just the premium which does not include co-pays, deductibles, or any other co-insurance. As a consequence of this, the situation exists where even when an employer offers insurance coverage, many employees opt out of the plan because they cannot afford their share of the contribution. Ironically, here in Southern California, some people cross the border into Mexico and pay cash for their healthcare. Thus, while salaries have increased 15% since 2000, average out-of-pocket healthcare expenses have increased 115%. Furthermore, there has been a dramatic increase in the employee responsibility for the cost of healthcare insurance through higher co-pays, deductibles, and cost sharing percentages of the premium.
The continuously rising health care costs in America have potentially adverse consequences for its citizens. Many Americans report that health care is their number one economic concern and the effects of healthcare on their financial stability are already taking place. The Commonwealth Fund reports that an estimated 77 million Americans age 19 and older (2 in 5 adults) have difficulty paying medical bills and have accrued medical debt. Over two-thirds of these families (with medical problems) have health insurance coverage. In a recent study by Harvard University, investigators found that 50% of all bankruptcy filings were partly the result of medical expenses. Experts have also recently reported that 25% of Americans have experienced housing problems, such as the inability to make rent or mortgage payments, due to medical debt. The Urban Institute has projected continued increases in out-of-pocket (co-pays, deductibles, and employee portion of the healthcare premium) healthcare costs. They estimate that in 2030, out-of-pocket healthcare costs will take 30.3% of after-tax income for older unmarried adults up from 17.3% in 2000. Unfortunately, these trends are more than likely to continue unless both businesses and individuals are presented with real options to accessible and affordable health care choices that can not only relieve costly medical burdens but also provide for real financial protection and stability.
It is widely known that the United States spends more money by a significant multiple on medical care than any other advanced industrialized country in the world. Despite the healthcare spending in this country, quality as measured by life expectancy is not as high as it exists in many other developed countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), World Health Statistics, 2006, the United States ranks 26 in Life Expectancy at Birth, for Males. While an age of 75 would appear to be excellent, countries such as Canada, Great Britain, Spain, Italy, Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Singapore, and others have a much higher life expectancy. Very surprisingly, Cuba, Costa Rica, Ireland, and Finland are comparable to the United States.
The issue is, if the overall health of the population of the United States is not in line with the dollars that we spend (i.e. the notion that if we are outspending other nations by 4 to 5 times on healthcare) then our healthcare (life expectancy) should be better by some significant factor. Therefore, since this is not the case, then there must be health care being delivered outside of the United States that can be utilized at significantly less costs and have equal or better results. The United States' system of health care is burdened with waste, unnecessary redundancies, litigation, bureaucracy, bloat, and a higher cost (standard) of living than other countries providing comparable quality services. It is clear from this data that there are fundamental, deep rooted problems in the U.S. healthcare system that either cannot or will not be solved easily or in a foreseeable period of time. None of the various 2008 election initiatives address the flaws in the system, other than how to provide healthcare coverage for 47 million uninsured Americans.
Medical Travel/Medical Tourism
Over the last few years, in response to more and more American's either losing healthcare coverage and/or anticipating large medical expenses following a diagnosis, a cottage industry has evolved catering to these individuals, under the banner of Medical Tourism. Medical Tourism or Medical Travel is where healthcare services are sought out and delivered outside of the home country of the patient. In other words, medical travel is the act of traveling to other countries to obtain medical, dental, or surgical care. The term was originally coined by the media as a catch all phrase to describe a rapidly growing industry where people travel to obtain medical care, but spend additional time in the host country recuperating and having leisure time post medical procedure.
A combination of factors have led to an increase in popularity of medical travel; the high cost of healthcare in the United States, the ease and affordability of international travel, significant improvements in technology, physician training, certification of hospitals, internet connection capability that connects the patient overseas with family members at home, and overall quantum improvements in the standard of care in many overseas countries.
According to research by the University of Delaware “The cost of surgery in Bolivia, Argentina, India, Thailand, Colombia, Philippines or South Africa can be one-tenth of what it is in the United States or Western Europe, and sometimes even less. A heart-valve replacement that would cost US $200,000 or more in the U.S., for example, goes for $10,000 in the Philippines and India-and that includes round-trip airfare and a brief vacation package which also includes costs for travel and lodging for a companion. Similarly, a metal-free dental bridge worth $5,500 in the U.S. costs $500 in India or Bolivia and only $200 in the Philippines, a knee replacement in Thailand with six days of Physical Therapy costs about one-fifth of what it would in the States, and Lasik Eye Surgery worth $3,700 in the U.S. is available in many countries for $730. Cosmetic surgery savings are even greater. A full facelift that would cost $20,000 in the U.S. runs about $2,700 in the Philippines or $2,500 in South America or $2,300 in Bolivia.” FIG. 1 shows the difference in cost of different medical procedures in the United States (shown as the retail price), India, Thailand, and Singapore.
Thus, it is necessary to provide a patient medical savings sharing system that not only overcomes the problems associated with rising healthcare costs but also takes advantage of the medical travel/medical tourism phenomenon and it is to this end that the system and method are directed.